Post-Processing Rosin - Your wish, after the squish

[BabyFacedFinster]

I am hopeful that this becomes a helpful thread for the growing number of rosineers out there.

Knowing that concentrates come in many forms, from sap to shatter and wax to diamonds. Rosin can also be found in many different forms. From very little experience and a lot of reading I learned that the post-processing of rosin can effect its form, as well as its flavor, color, and effect. This is often done by messing with the effects of temp, time, agitation, etc.

I've heated up jarred rosin on my plates at 120F for several hours and had varying effects. Most times the rosin remained the same consistency, but on a few rare occasions my rosin switched from a sticky sap to a wax. I want to learn more about getting more consistent effects.

If you had an ah ha moment, learned something new or had a question about rosin's very existence after pressing, consider posting it here. I have a few new varieties of flower that will soon succumb to the press. I will post my experiments in processing as they happen, especially if I keep getting a sticky, sappy rosin.

 

[psychonaut]

I'm experimenting as well.

I found with my first experiment using a wax consistency pressing, the oil didn't change much, that was at 100F on the jar floor for about 6 hours.

The next attempt was with a different variety and it started out as a pull and snap on the verge of buddering. With a jar floor temp of 140F for about 11 hours over 2 sessions. It turned the hard rosin into more of a moist budder, it doesn't clump off like icing it pulls a little bit.

The effects I don't see much difference. The flavor I think changed but I need some regular pressed to side by side compare. I've not done that yet.

So far with my limited experiments it's given me favorable results.

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

Thanks @psychonaut

I notice that many people leave the jar lid on to keep the terps from escaping when heating on the plate. If I wanted to try this on my 6 ton press then I would figure to shut off the PID to the top plate so it doesn't heat up the plastic lid. I have only tried heating with the lid off.

Most of my rosin has a thick molasses to tar consistency, and this can be messy when trying to load in a donut atomizer or a quartz cup. It would be much easier to find a consistent process for creating a sugar wax or crumble consistency, although I realize a lot is based on the properties of the strain being used.

 

[Moses Baca]

Thanks for starting this thread. It sounds like everyone's still learning how this all works so this will be a great place to share knowledge.

 

[btka]

Very interessting...
I would like to know how you could post process rosin so you could use it in carts... so to say how to get it more runny without adding terps or pg or something else...

for example jar tek or mechanical seperation... what is the process from blue river and others... they already do it... there are slight informations on internet but I did not really find one describing the process from beginning to end especially for carts... seems like the holy grail... haha

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

Very interessting...
I would like to know how you could post process rosin so you could use it in carts... so to say how to get it more runny without adding terps or pg or something else...

for example jar tek or mechanical seperation... what is the process from blue river and others... they already do it... there are slight informations on internet but I did not really find one describing the process from beginning to end especially for carts... seems like the holy grail... haha

Here's the issue with using rosin in carts; it's more than just the viscosity. If it were only the viscosity then we would be all set with any rosin than presses out in a runny, sappy form. I have a homegrown strain of Bubba Kush that does just that when you press it above 210F.

The other big factor are all the waxes and other plant compounds that are in the rosin when pressed. When put in a cart, those impurities clog up the wicks in the cartridges and render them useless. Its not that those impurities are necessarily bad for you to vape, but there is more residue left behind after vaping rosin compared to a BHO or other solvent extraction.

The only way I know to use rosin in carts is to first go through the lengthy and somewhat costly process of winterization. A brief explanation is, you dissolve the rosin in cold alcohol. The waxes don't dissolve but the cannabinoids do. You then filter out the waxes, evaporate away the alcohol and you're finally left with a purer cannabis oil that can be used in carts. If you have the time and the herb, this might be a possible solution for you.

 

[btka]

Here's the issue with using rosin in carts; it's more than just the viscosity. If it were only the viscosity then we would be all set with any rosin than presses out in a runny, sappy form. I have a homegrown strain of Bubba Kush that does just that when you press it above 210F.

The other big factor are all the waxes and other plant compounds that are in the rosin when pressed. When put in a cart, those impurities clog up the wicks in the cartridges and render them useless. Its not that those impurities are necessarily bad for you to vape, but there is more residue left behind after vaping rosin compared to a BHO or other solvent extraction.

The only way I know to use rosin in carts is to first go through the lengthy and somewhat costly process of winterization. A brief explanation is, you dissolve the rosin in cold alcohol. The waxes don't dissolve but the cannabinoids do. You then filter out the waxes, evaporate away the alcohol and you're finally left with a purer cannabis oil that can be used in carts. If you have the time and the herb, this might be a possible solution for you.

Thank you... but if it is true I have heared blue river extracts make their carts solventless from (6 star dry sieft) rosin they claim to have a mechanical seperation process... also heared others do it also with zero solvents (this mean also without winterization)... so there must be a way to do it or they are lying...

 

[tepictoton]

Probably with pressing dry sift or iceolator one could achieve this, seeing those have nearly no lipids/fats in them to start with.

Getting this runny enough to use in a cart might be as simple as heating it till it gets the desired viscosity.

This will most likely not work when pressing flower. A way to work around this is as mentioned before, winterizing... But, apart from it being costly and time consuming, the biggest drawback for me to winterizing is the loss of flavor.

 

[btka]

How can you get dry sieft or iceolator (bubble) rosin to be runny enough to get in cart? What would the heating process look like?

 

[tepictoton]

Partial decarb would do the trick. I always start with about 90C in the oven for 45 minutes. That works most of the time.

I am sure there are other ways to be found to get the same result. Would love to be able to do this without any use of heat.

 

[Hackerman]

@btka Many of the larger companies are using sonication to remove the fats and lipids from rosin. No winterizing or solvents to evap. I am going to try this next. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonication

Personally, I hate the taste of the carts that I have tried. But then, I don't eat foods with artificial flavor and color either.

However, if I could get the convenience of a cart with the purity of plain rosin with no additives, I might change my mind. I would love to take rosin on-the-go but straight rosin and the vapes that it works with, never seem to be real portable or stealthy. I am in an illegal state. Unless you can get your dab tool and load the vape somewhere private. I often sit at the bar and vape. I'm thinking someone will notice me taking dabs out of my jar and filling my vape. LOL

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

@btka
Personally, I hate the taste of the carts that I have tried. But then, I don't eat foods with artificial flavor and color either.

However, if I could get the convenience of a cart with the purity of plain rosin with no additives, I might change my mind. I would love to take rosin on-the-go but straight rosin and the vapes that it works with, never seem to be real portable or stealthy. LOL

Same. I have a few carts and love the stealthiness of a ccell pen, but I still worry about what is in them, even the carts they say are pure distillate. I think they still add a "natural" thinning or thickening agent which many call proprietery and won't disclose. And the taste is not great, and it does taste fake, and it is somewhat irritating on my throat, but I only use them when I'm somewhere where I absolutely need the stealth.

I can't wait for the science to catch up and find an easy way to put flower rosin in a cart and still get the flavors and benefits of the rosin. If the price is reasonable I'll be one of the first on line.

On another note,

I pressed 3.3g of blueberry flower yesterday which looked pretty frosty and smelled great. I decided to try a much lower temp than I have done in the past. 190F for 2-3 minutes. I got a very interesting product. The rosin was much lighter in color than what I get from my usual 210-220F temps, but it was the consistency that was unique. It was very waxy and crumbly like a very moist cake. All the rosin I've collected in the past has been either sappy or tar-like or shatter. This was more like budder or wax and it was very exciting. The downfall was the return which was lower than I'm used to. That first press only gave me about .3g of rosin. I then turned up the temp to 220F and did a second press which gave me an additional 1.6g of a much darker rosin with a pull and snap consistency. All in all, a bit less than a 15% return. The flavor of the first press is very good, but the second press isn't too bad either. The effects seem the same across the board.

I was going to post-process the rosin from this pressing, but with the majority of it being in a wax form, which is what I'm aiming for, I don't see any reason to mess with it.

My next press might have me press at the higher temp, collect the sap and then try some heating to change the consistency. It will be a little while though. Half a gram of rosin will last me about 2 weeks. Even with vaping every day, I am a cannabis camel.

 

[btka]

@btka Many of the larger companies are using sonication to remove the fats and lipids from rosin. No winterizing or solvents to evap. I am going to try this next. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonication

Personally, I hate the taste of the carts that I have tried. But then, I don't eat foods with artificial flavor and color either.

However, if I could get the convenience of a cart with the purity of plain rosin with no additives, I might change my mind. I would love to take rosin on-the-go but straight rosin and the vapes that it works with, never seem to be real portable or stealthy. I am in an illegal state. Unless you can get your dab tool and load the vape somewhere private. I often sit at the bar and vape. I'm thinking someone will notice me taking dabs out of my jar and filling my vape. LOL

as far as I read now about sonication you need a solvent for this process... so do not think that is what blue river does for their rosin carts... as they stated they even do not use water as a solvent -> that is why they use dry sieft (full melt (fresh frozen)) and not iceolator or bubble hash... no clue? the trick is maybe temperatures and pressure... or something like jar tek where terp sauce seperates...

even when you use 6star full melt dry sieft... and only collect the trich heads, think also trich heads contain waxes and lipids, maybe more less then not 6star fullmelt....

as far as I do not totaly understand the process and what happening by jar tek I do not know what happens with the waxes and lipids in this process...

another mechanical way could be using filters (like syringe filters for example 0.25 micron) ... here the question would be what is the size of waxes, lipids... and how to get rosin trough such filters (as far as it is not viscous enough)

I believe the process in reality is not that complicated but I do not really have the knowledge or education to understand (solve) how it is done (in an effective) way...

I would like to experiment with jar tek (cold and hot) but I did saw a lot of different methods and I am not really sure about process and what is going on... and never saw read how it is used to make carts... they are always more concentrating on the thc crystals and so...

 

[invertedisdead]

as far as I read now about sonication you need a solvent for this process... so do not think that is what blue river does for their rosin carts... as they stated they even do not use water as a solvent -> that is why they use dry sieft (full melt (fresh frozen)) and not iceolator or bubble hash... no clue? the trick is maybe temperatures and pressure... or something like jar tek where terp sauce seperates...

You probably need a whole room full of lab equipment to attempt what Blue River is doing. Unfortunately it's simply not realistic that you would really be able to replicate that at home, believe me I have studied their process as closely as I can.

In my mind they are doing the most unique extraction process in the entire world. Nobody else is on their level with solventless, I have some theories, but they involve multiple $$$ pieces of laboratory equipment. Keep in mind that you also need to start with world class hash to begin with, and lots of it - which can not be understated.

Realistically if you have access to the type of hash that the rosin cart guys are doing, you can probably get it in a pen without all the lab gear just with jar tek or mechanical separation and maybe some post filtration.

I've not heard of anyone using a sonicator to remove lipids, how would that work? I mostly see those being used for edibles and tinctures. Nanoemulsion is a hot thing right now.

A centrifuge on the other hand, is certainly being used by some companies to remove lipids

And yes, starting with incredible quality hash greatly reduces the amount of waxes, I average 1 q tip for cleanup of hash rosin versus 3 q tips for cleanup of flower rosin. The entire flower is coated in epicuticular wax, as well as cuticular wax membranes coating every single glandular trichome head.

I suggest following the cutting edge rosin companies on Instagram for more insight.

After doing extensive research I have found that there are multiple ways to get rosin in a cartridge with non cannabis additives. But none of them are "easy."

If you wanted to give this a try without a bunch of gear, I'd probably try this route that Dablogic has posted.

"Extracting the resin's aromatic essence through low temperature mechanical separation produces this low viscocity, low yielding, terpene rich SHO. The diversity of cannabinoids in this fraction of the flower's resin is fascinating as well. It contains higher than average levels of CBGa, CBG, CBC, CBDa compared to other consistencies, while still maintaining THCa just under the point of super saturation, making it one of the most medicinal and well-rounded solventless consistencies."
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByTn2FBAgDK/

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

"Extracting the resin's aromatic essence through low temperature mechanical separation produces this low viscocity, low yielding, terpene rich SHO. The diversity of cannabinoids in this fraction of the flower's resin is fascinating as well. It contains higher than average levels of CBGa, CBG, CBC, CBDa compared to other consistencies, while still maintaining THCa just under the point of super saturation, making it one of the most medicinal and well-rounded solventless consistencies."
https://www.instagram.com/p/ByTn2FBAgDK/

and I used to make a pipe out of a soda can and smoke it.

 

[Sick Vape]

Just stumbled upon this. It might be helpful.
They first heat to 225°F for 30min to 1h, then at around 100°F for an extended period of time.

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

Just stumbled upon this. It might be helpful.
They first heat to 225°F for 30min to 1h, then at around 100°F for an extended period of time.

Great video. It might have been the camera angle, but it was interesting how the rosin got darker then lighter again. In the end, do you still have rosin or is it diamonds and sauce now?

We like to gives things terms and put them in categories, but as we learn more...terms and categories change.

An example of this is the strain glossary at Leafly. Take a look at the new method they have for categorizing strains now. Not just by indica, sativa and hybrid. The old way got old (or boring) so they changed it to be more about the terp profile and other cannabinoids. I especially like the quick access to a lineage chart and similar strains. Here's an example of one of my fav strains: https://www.leafly.com/strains/granddaddy-purple
Gives more insight into what strains we want to buy or grow for our raw rosin material.

 

[Sick Vape]

I've not heard of anyone using a sonicator to remove lipids, how would that work? I mostly see those being used for edibles and tinctures. Nanoemulsion is a hot thing right now.

A centrifuge on the other hand, is certainly being used by some companies to remove lipids

I do not have any real insights into extract processing, but from what you do in labs to separate blood constituents/cells or so, I think you can set the sonicator to break down your trichome heads and cells to a molecular level. Then you use the centrifuge to separate according densities. It is just my idea, I do not know, and have no way to test now, if it works for rosin/trichome heads.

Great video. It might have been the camera angle, but it was interesting how the rosin got darker then lighter again. In the end, do you still have rosin or is it diamonds and sauce now?

It looks like there is some coagulation happening, I could not see big diamonds forming either. I am not really sure what they achieved. Maybe you could pour the sauce off and repeat the process.

My little THC rosin I have is very tasty to me and gets consumed before I can process it further.
I get to see some changes like buttering up from keeping it for a couple of days..

But I made some very mediocre CBD rosin from cheap bulk weed.
I put a small container of it on to a heated rosin plate for less than an hour. (before I saw this thread)
It melted and got more viscous again with cooling, but no noticeable change.
I wish I could extract some CBD crystals and pour the sauce away or something.
Maybe I should winterize it first. But I do not have the equipment to do it in a small scale (yet).

 

[btka]

I wish I could extract some CBD crystals and pour the sauce away or something.
Maybe I should winterize it first. But I do not have the equipment to do it in a small scale (yet).

haha funny I am more interessted in the sauce to fill it in carts then crystals...

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

Besides finding the phase changes interesting, I was mostly curious about post-processing for functional reasons.

Most of the herb I've pressed becomes a sap which is messy to load on atty's and such, or a shatter that explodes when you break it. I found buddered up rosin much easier to work with. One of my last presses was a lower temp with a lower yield, but it produced a buddered up product right on the parchment so there was no need to process in my mind. While forming sauce and crystals looks cool, I have not had pleasant experiences in vaping larger crystals as the THC punch is excessive. I'm fine with more of a blend of CBD and THC.

 

[LesPlenty]

One of my last presses was a lower temp

What temperature was that?
That 'punch' of THC sounds like a bit of fun for a change every now and again.
I like the thought of different options for using the one plant as that is all I have access to.

 

[invertedisdead]

Besides finding the phase changes interesting, I was mostly curious about post-processing for functional reasons.

Most of the herb I've pressed becomes a sap which is messy to load on atty's and such, or a shatter that explodes when you break it. I found buddered up rosin much easier to work with. One of my last presses was a lower temp with a lower yield, but it produced a buddered up product right on the parchment so there was no need to process in my mind. While forming sauce and crystals looks cool, I have not had pleasant experiences in vaping larger crystals as the THC punch is excessive. I'm fine with more of a blend of CBD and THC.

The budder is also much easier to collect than the runny sap!

 

[BabyFacedFinster]

What temperature was that?

It was a Blueberry strain and I pressed it at 190F for 3 min, which I know is not that low for others, but for someone that usually presses at 220F it was low for me. It was the weirdest thing to open the press and see this dry cottage cheesy rosin all around the puck. When I did a second press of the puck at 220F, I got very little and it was sappy.

The budder is also much easier to collect than the runny sap!

Very true. Although a Terp pen can be dipped right in the sap.

 

[Sick Vape]

The budder is also much easier to collect than the runny sap!

How do you collect it? You just scrape it off the parchment?

To collect I like when it is still a bit sticky but not sappy, just so it peels off the parchment easy when collecting with a tool. When buddered up I had a little bit of residue left on the paper after collection. Best is when it budders up in the storage container, because it is easy to use in that state.

On the other hand up to now it is a sign of superior quality for me when it budders directly on the parchment paper when pressing at lower temps.

What about long term storage? It seems to me it might loose more smell when stored in the buttered state.

I have not yet had any CBD only rosin (from flower with less than 1% THC) budder up.
But some is so runny that even out of the fridge you can't collect it.

I am still very novice in this and learning.

edit:

haha funny I am more interessted in the sauce to fill it in carts then crystals...

I absolutely see where you are coming from. I am interested in that too, but for this particular not nice tasting cbd rosin I think you would agree with me to pour away some sauce and keep some crystals if it was possible.

 

[invertedisdead]

How do you collect it? You just scrape it off the parchment?

Some of the budder comes right off parchment very cleanly, depends on a lot of different factors.

Sometimes I use a cold pack underneath the paper to chill the rosin, but I always like when it comes off clean at room temp with no extra tools.